Conventionally, known is an optical limiter circuit that limits the light intensity of a light wave propagating in an optical transmission line so as not to exceed a certain level. For example, in terms of an optical limiter to which a nonlinear phenomenon is applied, known is an optical limiter that uses a nonlinear phenomenon which a nonlinear medium having a large third-order nonlinear susceptibility and a linear medium such as a quartz waveguide cause while being in contact with each other.
Moreover, in terms of an optical limiter to which four wave mixing is applied, known is an optical limiter to which an optical parametric effect is applied. Moreover, in terms of a waveguide type light modulating switching device using a nonlinear organic dye, known is a structure of a light waveguide in which a dye thin film is vapor deposited on a base glass waveguide to form a nonlinear waveguide, so that a composite optical system of a linear optical material and a nonlinear optical material is created. These techniques are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 01-210938 and 2000-031901, and Hiroshi MURATA, Masayuki IZUTSU, “Light-Induced Index Change in a Waveguide of a Novel Organic Quinoid Dye and its Applications to All-Optical Devices with Localized Nonlinearity”, IEEE Conference Publications Nonlinear Optics '98, Aug. 1998, PP. 313 to 315.